Happiness- A Destination or Emotion?

While watching an episode of One Tree Hill a while ago, I found myself having to press the pause button after one of the characters spoke about an interesting theory which transcends beyond the realm of TV. The episode explored the question “what comes next?” after one major chapter of your life ends and a new one begins. Where do we go from there?

"Happiness is not a destination. It is a mood, it is not permanent. It comes and goes and if people thought that way then maybe people would find happiness more often.

People get lost when they think of happiness as a destination. We're always thinking that some day we'll be happy. We will get that car or that job or that person in our lives that will fix everything. But happiness is a mood. And it's a condition not a destination. It's like being tired or hungry. It's not permanent. It comes and goes and that's okay. And I feel like if people thought of it that way, they'd find happiness more often."

After thinking about the theory, I now wonder if most of us look at happiness the wrong way. Do the majority see happiness as a destination? Happiness is an aspiration we all work towards, with the line of thought generally being “if I work hard and live with integrity, happiness will surely follow”.

But what if we instead looked at happiness more as an emotion? Would we seek it in a different way, or change our expectations?

While thinking I came to realise that I, like most of us fall in and out of happiness countless times every day. Sure, the kind of happiness we're all searching for is a little more withstanding, but nothing lasts forever and specific levels of happiness certainly don't. So if happiness was an emotion, like feeling hungry or sad, then maybe things would make more sense and we wouldn’t go around feeling disappointed when things turn a little crappy every now and then.

I know for me, happiness comes in a million different forms. Blogging makes me happy, as do chocolate, flowers and hearing a toddler laugh. Sure there are things that make me happier for longer and more consistent periods of time, like having a job I love and being in love, but it's the little things, the mundane things that occur unexpectedly every day that sometimes feel the best.

If I'm being honest, so many areas of my life make me feel like I'm lost in a maze, going around and round in circles with no clear end in sight, but then I'll look at the biggest part of my personal happiness- my sisters, family and friends and I realise that they're the one consistent part of my world that brings true happiness. The rest is just a bonus!